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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29694465">Smokescreen</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Headwig1010/pseuds/Headwig1010'>Headwig1010</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark, Darth Tantrum and his Evil Space Ginger, Hate Sex, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Smoking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:41:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,240</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29694465</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Headwig1010/pseuds/Headwig1010</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux lived in a universe on fire but he was only ever left choking in the smoke...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Smoke Rings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My first dive into this fandom and this ship because these bastards deserve nothing good. XD</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It all starts, perhaps fittingly, with a shared vice...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hux had been smoking when they'd first fucked; the cigarette near burned down to the filter, the bitter scent of nicotine heavy in the recycled air of the Finalizer.</p><p>Of course, it wouldn't do for an officer of his rank indulging in <em>any </em>vice, least of all one as uncouth as this one. After all, this one left <em>traces</em>, a cloying odur in his clothes, in his hair, the evidence of his weakness coating him in tar.</p><p>But Hux had seen what drink had done to his father, how it dulled his senses and increased the strength of his blows. <em>That</em> was something he couldn't abide, even if he lost everything, he was determined to keep his mind.</p><p>
  <em>Heh.</em>
</p><p>Keep? Yes, for now but his mind was no longer his and his alone was it?</p><p>The thought drew him to take another long drag of his dying cigarette, his fingers flexing subconsciously as he recalled the first time Snoke had <em>punctured </em>his mind, tearing it open and dragging his claws through his very essence.</p><p>It had been agony, so pure he could <em>taste </em>it.</p><p>But he hadn't screamed.</p><p>Not then and not since.</p><p>It was a small, splintered victory but Hux clung to it tightly.</p><p>"As you should," came an amused, low drawl, the cigarette plucked out of his grip by long, elegant fingers perfect for strangling.</p><p>"Ha, most people would say for piano playing," Ren noted, for once without his hideous helmet, his pale face heavily bruised, the cigarette catching on a cut on his lower lip.</p><p>It seemed Ren's training had gone...well, who knew with the darkside? Perhaps the cruelty was the point, perhaps it was all it had left.</p><p>"Careful Hux," Ren warned, blowing out a steady stream of smoke. "You overstep."</p><p>"In my own head?" Hux sneers, pulling out another cigarette from his battered pack and lighting it, deliberately blowing smoke in Ren's face. "Why? Must <em>everything</em> be open for you to pilfer?"</p><p>Ren chuckled at that, low and wretched. "Why not? Is it not the place of the powerful to consume the weak?"</p><p>"It is," you agree before adding slyly, "and it shall be such a <em>joy</em> to see <em><strong>you</strong></em> so consumed."</p><p>A flurry of movement later and Hux was shoved hard against the blast door, both of them all teeth and loathing.</p><p>"Careful Ren," Hux breathed, the tip of his monomolecular blade pressed deep into the other man's kidney, daring him to try anything.</p><p>Ren snarled into his face, the acrid scent of smoke filling the air between them, heady and bitter.</p><p>And it was fitting that their first kiss ended with blood-stained lips and aching lungs.</p><p>It was a blur after that, bruises blooming upon bruises, fingers scrambling unkindly, grips too tight, teeth too sharp.</p><p>In fact, the first burst of pleasure almost felt like pain, the shock of sweetness after biting into a bitter-skinned fruit. </p><p>Had it truly been <em>that </em>long? </p><p>For <em>both </em>of them?</p><p>No wonder it was all over as quickly as it started.</p><p>Smoke and seed, <em>heh</em>, it seemed no vice did not leave it's mark, Hux thought as he cleansed himself later, idly pressing on the new bruise coating his thigh.</p><p>Of course, it simply couldn't happen again; Snoke didn't need more of his carrion to feast upon, his name couldn't bare anymore disdain and his position was already perilous...</p><p>Once was already far too many times.</p><p>Besides, Ren was an utterly <em>atrocious </em>kisser.</p><p>(Even when his lip had healed...)</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Slipping Through your Fingers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hux is bored, Ren is unsettled and then they start splitting hairs...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hux was <em>bored</em>.</p>
<p>Granted, there were far worse things to be in this nest of vipers but he still remained bored; So bored in fact he was stood beside the bar, letting the blue smoke emitting from the gaudy drinks display flow between his fingers.</p>
<p>It was truly an <em>appalling</em> waste of his time.</p>
<p>And the <em>worst</em> part was that he usually <em>thrived </em>at these formal events, plenty of the Empire's dregs underestimated him but thought him a pretty enough piece of flesh to flatter him regardless.</p>
<p>Which, of course, made it all the more easy to charm information out of them, expose those old wounds and find new opportunities for his own gain.</p>
<p>In fact, he'd been preparing for tonight to be another one of those nights, he'd had dress robes especially tailored, a rich cream with a blood red interior lining; the sort of robes begging to be torn off him but denying anyone unworthy of the chance.</p>
<p>So it had been <em>especially</em> galling to have spent <em>hours </em>preening for this event only to have Ren arrive at his door, a mere <em>two </em>minutes before his departure to inform him that Snoke had ordered him to guard Hux for this event as he'd 'sensed' the General was in danger.</p>
<p>It was hard to say which of them was being punished more.</p>
<p>And so, there they stood; Hux painted pretty and precious while Ren was sticking out like an necrotic wound with absolutely <em>no one</em> coming near them.</p>
<p>"Poor Hux," Ren drawled from behind that hideous mask of his, "dressed to impress but yet impressing <em>no-one</em>."</p>
<p>Hux resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "Oh <em>aren't</em> I?" He sneered before slightly cocking his hip as he took a long, indulgent sip of his wine, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.</p>
<p>Ren sighed under his breath a moment later and Hux smirked, "who?" He asked, his back still to most of the room. </p>
<p>"..."</p>
<p>"Oh come now Ren, <em>impress </em>me, <strong><em>who</em></strong>?"</p>
<p>"...Captain Gandol," Ren muttered, "he's being very <em>generous</em> with your flexibility and even more so with your charm."</p>
<p>"Tut, tut, Captain... what position does he want me in?"</p>
<p>Hux could hear Ren's eye roll, "knees to your ears."</p>
<p>That made Hux wince a little, "by the stars <em>no</em>, I'm not that flexible anymore," he took another drink of wine, letting his thumb lightly trace the rim just to see...</p>
<p>"<em>Hux,"</em> Ren growled in warning, his fingers flexing.</p>
<p>"Oh dear, <em>that</em> bad?" Hux asked, beginning to enjoy himself. </p>
<p>"Unless you enjoy the idea of being vivisected."</p>
<p>That makes Hux wince for a very different reason, the playful tone immediately leaving his voice. "Who?"</p>
<p>But Ren wasn't listening, his hands were tight, his muscles tense as a coiled spring.</p>
<p>It seemed whoever was fantasizing about Hux was getting rather carried away in their own imagination, likely with something <em>truly </em>disturbed if <strong><em>Ren </em></strong>was unsettled.</p>
<p>And so Hux did the only sensible thing.</p>
<p>And spilled the rest of his drink over Ren's trousers.</p>
<p>The effect was immediate and he taller man snapped back into reality with a yelp as the cold wine soaked into his breeches, making the black material cling to his thighs.</p>
<p>"Whoops, my <em>deepest</em> apologies Lord Ren," you drawl, trying very hard not to smile. "Shall we go and get you cleaned up?"</p>
<p>The copious witnesses was the only thing that kept Ren from retaliating...right until there was no one around.</p>
<p>"Fuck you Hux," Ren hissed, having slammed Hux into the bathroom door as soon as it closed behind them.</p>
<p>"Here?" Hux drawled in reply, "whatever will people say then Ren?"</p>
<p>Ren snarled and let him go, locking the door behind him before tugging his helmet of, needing to breathe. "Why?" He snapped, not needing to explain himself.</p>
<p>"Well, I didn't want you getting any ideas now did I?" Hux replied archly, crossing his arms, "but I fail to see why it distressed <em>you </em>so much given you wish no less harm on me then whoever was having that little fantasy."</p>
<p>"Not like <em>that</em> I don't," Ren spat, "<em>when </em>I kill you it'll be quick, clean and without any fuss."</p>
<p>"A man after my own heart," Hux cooed sarcastically but, in truth, he shared Ren's distaste; torture had a place of course but sparingly, as a tool, not for base amusement.</p>
<p>"Don't push me Hux, I can hurt you without even <em>touching</em> you." </p>
<p>"By breathing? Yes, it's an impressive skill Ren."</p>
<p>A flash of amusement passed across the younger man's face and he scoffed, "you're right, with so many out there <em>hating</em> you I should sell tickets before I torture you."</p>
<p>"You should, perhaps then you'd be able to afford a decent hairbrush."</p>
<p>"Why would I bother when I can just steal yours?" Ren snapped, wanting to get the last word in before he had a chance to think through the implications.</p>
<p>"Careful Ren," Hux warned softly, neither of them having spoken about the strange, hidden truce between you that had developed since that first, bloody kiss.</p>
<p>It wasn't love, it wasn't affection, fuck, you didn't even <em>like </em>each other...</p>
<p>...And yet...</p>
<p>"...I'm not that sort of man," Ren said softly, "not with sex, not like that. I'd...I'd want you on your feet, fighting, not what they were thinking, not-"</p>
<p>"Shut up." Hux interrupt sharply, not wanting to hear it before he sighed, going to drag his hand down his face but Ren stops him, catching him by his wrist.</p>
<p>"You'll ruin your make-up," he breathes, too close, too warm.</p>
<p>"And that's <em>your </em>job is it?" Hux replies, cutting to the quick.</p>
<p>"<strong><em>Yes</em></strong>," Ren hisses, "only <em>I </em>get to kill you when that day comes and only <em>I </em>get to fuck you tonight."</p>
<p>"Oh be still my beating heart," Hux says with an eyeroll but he doesn't pull away. "...But we might as well find a bed, the night is ruined anyway."</p>
<p>And it definitely <em>wasn't</em> improved by Ren fucking him until his knees gave out, his robes torn into binds and his make-up smeared with sweat.</p>
<p>Ren was still an uncouth, reckless brute.</p>
<p>(And the second hairbrush that now lived upon his night stand was nothing more then a spare.)</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Choices by Candlelight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Things begin to escalate, the lines get more blurred and a light is found in the darkness.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was easy to forget Ren was human, hells, most of the crew didn't even <em>know</em> he was given only a tiny handful had ever seen his true face, and none of them had been below the rank of lieutenant.</p><p>But he <em>was</em>, <strong><em>achingly</em></strong> so; Every tantrum, every argument, every bruise, every cut, every single, <em>hateful</em> part of him that had <em>infected</em> this ship, his command, his <em>bed</em>.</p><p>Hux <em>detested</em>him, utterly and completely.</p><p>This thing, this <em>man </em>who hid his face, his <em>everything</em> but took it all and more, tore him open and <em>dared </em>to...to...</p><p>
  <em>No.</em>
</p><p>It didn't matter.</p><p>It was just sex.</p><p>Doomed and dirty, like they both were.</p><p>And so why did it <em>choke </em>him so to find that box of mourning candles left upon his pillow that evening?</p><p>It was an old tradition of Arkanis, the rain drowned out the sunlight most days and so, it was believed, the dead required candlelight to find their way too the After without getting lost in the water.</p><p>It's why he'd had Phasma kill his father in the pitch blackness, not that he believed in these fairytales of course but...death had a funny way of making one superstitious, murder even more so.</p><p>But there was one person Hux had lit a candle for, once a year, every year since her death.</p><p>Well, while he was planet side of course, a lit candle upon a starship was such a <em>terrible </em>idea it hadn't even occurred to him before.</p><p>
  <em>Heh.</em>
</p><p>But wasn't that the <em>only</em> thing Ren was good for? Giving him <em>terrible </em>ideas that'd he'd regret acting upon?</p><p>"Feeling sentimental Ren?" Hux asked, the candle now burning a soft orange glow into his retinas as he watched it flicker, not even turning to face Ren as the door closed behind him.</p><p>"Perhaps," Ren replied, removing his helmet and setting it down on the space he'd claimed for it a month ago. "You were dreaming about her all last week."</p><p>"Ever the voyeur," Hux accuses without heat, letting his fingers dance across the flame, risking, but never receiving, a burn.</p><p>"I can't help it," he defended, removing his boots, "you think so very loudly, it's as if you demand the universe do nothing else but give you attention at all times."</p><p>That makes Hux smirk a little, "anything to drive you <em>more</em> mad then you already are Ren."</p><p>His eyeroll is almost audible, "who'd notice <em>another </em>madman around here Hux?"</p><p>That makes you pause, surprised he'd have such an opinion and so you turn to face him, eyebrow raised. "We have many then?"</p><p>Ren returns your look, a tightness to his jaw, hundreds of words left unsaid. </p><p>
  <em>Ah.</em>
</p><p>Hux almost smiles, almost, "doubt Ren?"</p><p>He glares at you, his face too soft to carry the threat it should. "No."</p><p>"Hmm," Hux hums, not believing it for a second but not wanting to push, the situation already...delicate, twisted in on itself, two webs entangled into one.</p><p>"What was she like?" Ren asks, not truly caring but it's an easy deflection and Hux takes it, for now, but with little grace.</p><p>"The woman who gave birth to me? No idea, the one who took me in because she was barren? Quiet, committed... and cowardly."</p><p>"For <em>not </em>beating you?"</p><p>"Exactly," Hux replied, turning back to the candle, "if she agreed it was good for me, she should've taken part. If she believed it wrong, she should've stopped him. She did <em>neither</em>, she chose <strong><em>not</em></strong> to make no choice...and so I was beaten while she fretted in silence."</p><p>Then he reached up and pinched the flame out, a thin stream of smoke escaping the the wick in its wake.</p><p>"...Pain can be an excellent instructor." Ren breathed, voice...unsure.</p><p>"But <em>not</em> the only one." Hux replied, watching the candle as it died. "Especially, as my father discovered, you do <em>not</em> control the lesson it teaches."</p><p>Slowly, Hux turned, looking at Ren, the air thick with tension as he took in the fresh bruise upon his throat. "Is it any wonder why <em>I've</em> never hurt you?" </p><p>Then Ren was on his feet, throwing Hux back against the wall, his chest heaving, the <em>treason</em> whispered wordless in the air.</p><p>"Careful Hux," Ren warns but he doesn't seem to know what to do, his hands low on your hips, too low to be a threat. </p><p>"It's a little late for that isn't it?" Hux notes, smiling bitterly, "we both know how this is <em>meant </em>to end don't we? One of us living on our knees, one of us for the axe while the king in his throne offers nothing but the choice to choose who is who."</p><p>"You can't-"</p><p>"<strong><em>Why</em></strong>? Are you going to <em>hurt</em> me Ren? Teach me a lesson? I think you've done that enough tonight and I...I do not care for it."</p><p>"Liar," Ren breathed, pressing closer and, this time when they kissed it didn't feel as doomed as it, inevitably, was.</p><p>(And, in the darkness, a mourning candle could guide more then just the dead to a place of rest, especially when left upon a bedside table...)</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Pyre</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The dangers of being untouchable...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was something ominous about being untouchable; something dark clinging to the word like a growth, something forever unsaid but always heard by anyone who heard such a claim.</p>
<p>It was a challenge.</p>
<p>And, more often then not, someone would <em>take</em> it.</p>
<p>The knights of Ren were all untouchable.</p>
<p>Right until they weren't.</p>
<p>"Why are you here Hux?" Ren hissed, Ushar's pyre burning low into the light of the settings suns, the wind of the desert world whistling like a whip crack around them.</p>
<p>"The ambience," Hux drawled, withdrawing a cigarette and lighting it.</p>
<p>"I am <em>not</em> in a gaming mood," Ren warned, the threat much more real then those ones whispered between the sheets.</p>
<p>"You think I'm playing?" Hux asked with an almost smile, turning so he was downwind, the smoke escaping his lips in a faint stream.</p>
<p>"You do <em>nothing </em>else," it was said with a sneer, still not looking at the other man.</p>
<p>"Then let me ask you this Ren," Hux began, shifting until he was leaning back against one of the many broken pillars that dotted the landscape. "<em>Am</em> I winning?"</p>
<p>That comment was enough to have Ren rise from his kneeling position to face Hux, his eyes, ever too wide and too open, meeting his.</p>
<p>And <em>there</em> it was, the truth starring them both full in the face.</p>
<p>After all, Starkiller was almost finished.</p>
<p>If it failed? Hux was dead, that much was obvious.</p>
<p>But if it <em>succeeded?</em></p>
<p>Well, in many ways that was <em>worse; </em>at least execution promised a quick death, not the slow, <em>suffocating</em> sink into ever shifting sands.</p>
<p>And Hux had spent his whole life fighting against gravity.</p>
<p>"...I don't know." Ren replies softly, "I don't think you can." He added, half-smile, half-shaking, "not...not under <em>these </em>rules."</p>
<p>"<strong><em>His </em></strong>rules you mean," Hux corrected with another long drag of his cigarette, his tone wryly amused. "It is a cruel thing indeed to be trapped in a life or death game with an unaccountable, <em>untouchable </em>Gamemaster."</p>
<p>"Don't."</p>
<p>"But we've seen today to what happens to those considered untouchable haven't we?"</p>
<p>"<em>Stop."</em></p>
<p>"They die."</p>
<p>Thirteen strides, a of crackle blood-red power, the heat dangerously close to his pale throat.</p>
<p>A smile.</p>
<p>"It's a funny word though isn't it? <em>Untouchable,</em> something to covert yet also something to fear. A social creature denied, no, <em>beyond</em> touch...I am glad <em>neither </em>of us are."</p>
<p>And then Hux's hand curled around Ren's wrist, thumb against his pulse, wild and pounding.</p>
<p>The lightsaber hit the sand.</p>
<p>The cigarette joining it a moment later.</p>
<p>And <em>neither</em> of them were untouchable that night...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Checkmate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Supreme Leader is dead...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A shot in the back?</p>
<p>Neat.</p>
<p>Clean.</p>
<p>Quick.</p>
<p>Hux's hand dropped to his blaster.</p>
<p>A sharp gasp.</p>
<p>Desperate, <em>lost</em> brown eyes.</p>
<p>Caught.</p>
<p>He kept his hand were it was.</p>
<p>"So easily?" Ren asked as he rose up on legs that had been wrapped around Hux just last night, legs that had given out under him days before as Starkiller was destroyed under them.</p>
<p>"Of course," Hux replied, voice as soft as it had been when he'd whispered sweet nothings into Ren's ear, the voice that had desperately tried to rouse Ren as the very earth cracked beneath them.</p>
<p>"Yet you hesitate." Ren noted, standing straight, lips quirked in an almost smile, lips that had stretched around Hux's cock, lips that had been stained with blood.</p>
<p>"As do you," Hux breathed, fingers flexing about his blaster, fingers that had curled deep within Ren's core, fingers that had scrambled to drag the man to safety as everything he'd worked for all his life crumbled around him.</p>
<p>"On your feet, fighting, I believe I promised you Hux." Ren replied, amused, smoke curling from the fires around them, blood slowly soaking into the floor.</p>
<p>"Are we <em>not</em> fighting then?" Hux asked, bemused, drawing his blaster and pressing it over Ren's heart, stopping him in his tracks.</p>
<p>"No, it'd be a rather inauspicious start that if the <em>first</em> thing I did as Supreme Leader was to cut down my Grand Marshall."</p>
<p>A shot in the <em>heart</em>?</p>
<p>Messy.</p>
<p>Risky.</p>
<p>
  <em>Intimate.</em>
</p>
<p>"You <em>bastard</em>," Hux swore...before holstering his blaster.</p>
<p>"I believe that would be you." Ren replied with an almost cheeky smirk.</p>
<p>"Quite," Hux replied with an eye roll, his hand falling away from his side... and to Ren's hip. </p>
<p>"The Supreme Leader is dead..." Ren whispered, cupping his hand around Hux's throat, thumb running over the bitemarks he'd left the night before.</p>
<p>"...Long live the Grand Marshall," Hux whispered back and Ren chuckled against his lips before they met, the final move played, pawn made queen, queen takes king.</p>
<p>
  <em>Checkmate.</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>...Long live these two bastards. XD I really quite enjoyed this little paddle in this ship, do let me know if you enjoyed it and I might try a deeper dive! 😊</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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